This invention relates to a mechanism for wrapping the tail of a wrapper strip around the head end of a cigar bunch. More particularly, such mechanism is adapted to apply a flag-shaped tail to a shaped head of a cigar bunch which is rolled over the wrapper strip while laid on a supporting surface.
While several forms of apparatus have been proposed for rolling wrappers on cigar bunches, for many years the most commonly used apparatus in the commercial production of cigars has been the type in which the bunch is cradled between two horizontally spaced rollers and one or more rollers contact the upper side of the bunch. One or more of the rollers are driven so that the bunch in contact therewith rotates about its axis and while the bunch is rotating a wrapper strip is helically wound around the bunch. Such conventional apparatus has the disadvantage that wrapper strips cannot be applied to cigar bunches at rates substantially greater than about 20 per minute.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,010,763 to Hans C. Dreher discloses and claims a completely different type of apparatus for applying wrapper strips to cigar bunches at far greater rates than is possible with conventional apparatus. However, the apparatus of the Dreher invention cannot make flag-shaped tails of wrapper strips contact the heads of cigar bunches when such heads are tapered or rounded. As mentioned in the Dreher patent, flag-shaped tails of wrapper strips must be brought into smooth contact with the shaped heads of bunches either by hand or by a specially developed mechanism.
Accordingly, the principal object of this invention is to provide a mechanism for applying flag-shaped tails of wrapper strips to shaped heads of cigar bunches which are rolled over the wrapper strips while laid on a supporting surface.
Another object is to provide such mechanism with specially designed header blocks which follow the rolling cigar bunches and contact the shaped heads during two separate intervals while the bunches are being rolled.
Still another object is to provide such mechanism wherein the path of the moving header blocks relative to the surface on which the bunches are rolled can be varied to accommodate bunches of different sizes.
These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description which follows.